Podcast#56 – Interview – Sep Bekam – W2 Electrical Engineer never looks back and why he does SFH and not MFH

Sep Bekam is a full time real estate investor and was able to get out of the rat race when he was 31 years old. He currently invests in 4 states and has acquired a portfolio of 50 houses and 80 apartments with his investors. Sep has been interviewed twice on the Real Estate Guys Radio Show and recently co-founded a real estate crowdfunding company. He enjoys helping other investors avoid making the same mistakes he did when he first started.

Quitting your job frees up so much time to progress business
2009 came around and getting fired was the best thing!
Oh no investing is stocks like Washington Mutual

1) How much simple passive Cashflow are you making today and how are you doing it?
(You don’t need to give a number if you would like privacy. You can be vague such as halfway to quitting my job, cover my mortgage, Make 25% of my expenses, over $10k, although people like when people open up the kimono.)
• Six figure range
2) What is your Han Solo moment – Han Solo and his buddy Chewbacca from Star Wars were cruising around the galaxy as lowlife smugglers but then cross paths with Luke and Leia and his life took a pivot point. Describe the resistance that was the catalyst for change. Did you “burn the boats” or did you let it happen naturally – was there an internal (you decided to make a change on own – what was thought process?) or external (you got fired) trigger?
1. Live in Orange County, California
2. Love to travel, paintball, attend seminars
2. Went to school for electrical engineering because that’s what I was taught
4. Started working and felt like Office Space
5. Was very stressful, 2008. Recession hit, I had a nasty, egotistical boss (also an engineer)
6. I was told when to go to work, when I could take a break, when I could eat, and when I could see my friends and family.
7. And then I was laid off after 4 months. I go to school for 26 years to be laid off after 4 months
8. Then went on to pursue masters in robotics
9. Cousin introduced me to Robert Kiyosaki’s book called Conspiracy of the Rich
10. Fell in love with real estate investing. Found podcasts
11. Big influencers: Real Estate Guys (Robert Helms & Russell Gray), J Massey, David Lindahl, Ken McElroy
12. Got the cash flow bug. I wanted to own apartment buildings. I thought it would give me freedom so I could stop trading time for money.
13. Tried investing in OC but nothing cash flowed. Then I began searching for markets that had properties with better cash flow. Everyone told me I was crazy and I should invest locally
14. Bought my first 2 properties in Phoenix. Two 4-plexes.
15. Evictions, broken windows, bleach on the carpets, management excuses, etc. while working full time job
16. When I started investing, I made virtually every mistake possible: overpaid for properties that appraised low, meth labs,
Robert Helms: “Live where you want to live, invest where the numbers make sense”
• Investor Identity – Why does it matter?
• Marketplace: How to find good emerging real estate markets
• Team: Team includes: Property Manager, brokers, leasing agents, evictions Attorney, contract review attorney, Mastermind, insurance brokers, public insurance claims adjusters, CPA, tax attorney, securities Attorney if you are raising capital, etc.
• Deal:
-Self managing vs.hiring a property manager. Managing the Manager
-If I fail, it’s my fault. If I succeed, it’s because of my Team.
Why I am focusing more on single family rental portfolios than apartments?
• When the crowd is going one way, there is a lot of opportunity in the opposite direction
• Gurus often compare owning 1,000 apartments to self-managing 1 house
• Why not manage your houses like an apartment complex?

3) Worst life/business moment what did you do after? Lesson learned?
-When a bank tried foreclosing on one of my apartment complexes…even though we never missed a mortgage payment.

4) A mark of a high performer is to put your ego aside and accept the help of others and mastermind. 2 week experiment and 6 month project? (90-180 day goal) Perhaps people can help you out? Any secret habit to share?
Secret Habit #1: Fast way to underwrite deals: 1.5% rule
Secret Habit #2: Surround yourself with investors that are ahead of you. Not the talkers.
Secret Habit #3: Investor Identity

5) What is your simple passive Cashflow number? Now imagine you had 2x that amount… Describe your ideal day, detailed routine, and what projects you are working on.
• Simple Passive Cashflow number: $50,000/month.
• Double that: $100,000/month
• Travel to Europe 6 times a year. Underwrite deals while living in Lake Como, Italy for 3 months.

6) Something that you have recently or thought about “burning your cash” on for time savings or an improvement in quality of life.
• I could hire more employees, expand the team, invest in additional marketing to be able to help, teach, and create 1,000 millionaires per year.

7) Tony Robbins identifies two large concepts that we are continually struggling to gain perfection at: #1-Art of Fulfillment and #2-Science of Achievement. If you died tomorrow and this was your final words of wisdom, what is your secret to the “Science of Achievement?” And “Art of Fulfillment?” How you do contribute back?
At the Unleash the Power Within seminar, Tony talked about the importance of measuring all of the important aspects of life to ensure fulfillment:
Draw a wheel (circle) on piece of paper and divide it up into 7 or 8 spokes. In each spoke, write the following:
1. Finances
2. Relationships
3. Time
4. Body
5. Emotion
6. Mission
7. Contribution
Then shade each spoke from the center on a scale of 1 to 5. 1 being awful and 5 being excellent. When you’re done shading each wheel, you’ll notice that some areas might be a little bit off balance. Just like the tires on your car, if they are off balance then your car can’t go as fast or run as efficient. It’s important to make sure that the wheel is balanced.

8) Anything we missed and contact info if you would like anyone to get a hold of you. URL?
Facebook: Sepehr Bekam
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